Hawks give Lakers second win of season

The Atlanta Hawks are just the second team to suffer a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, falling 114-109 as Kobe Bryant put up 28 points on a game-high 18 shots.

This is easily the worst loss of the season for the Hawks, and breaks their perfect home record in the process.

This one came down to poor defense on the side of Atlanta, with the Lakers taking a 67-52 lead into the half after shooting 71 percent from the floor in the second quarter. It was Kobe leading the way for the Lakers of course, with 19 points in the half.

For Atlanta, Paul Millsap (who finished with a game-high 29 points) was carrying the team for the most part, and also entered the half with 19 points.

Atlanta bounced back at the start of the third and fourth quarters–with a 13-0 run and a 7-0 run to start each quarter, respectively–but both times, the Hawks let the Lakers climb back in it.

Jeff Teague and Al Horford finished the game with respectable numbers. Teague shot 8-14 from the floor and finished with 23 points, while Horford added 15 points on an extremely efficient 7-8 from the floor while adding eight boards as well.

Still, this one comes down to poor defense. The Lakers shot 54 percent from the floor while out-rebounding the team 44-38. What’s especially surprising about this one is the fact that the Lakers even had more assists (24) than the Hawks (22).

Atlanta will try to rebound from this loss Friday against the Detroit Pistons, and the game will take place at Philips Arena at 7:30 pm ET. Stay tuned.